Hydraulic valve lifter puller



Dec. 3, 1968 F. R. MAXWELL HYDRAULIC VALVE LIFTER FULLER Filed July 5, 1967 gawk i. lfiazrzuel/ Rafa? 9 ma 7 I QbPaQy nited States Patent 0 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A device for removing the body of a hydraulic lifter by gripping only the exposed portion of the central bore of the body of the lifter to facilitate the removal thereof.

Background of the invention This invention relates to hydraulic valve lifters and, more particularly, to an improved hydraulic valve lifter puller for removing the body of a valve lifter from the engine block of an internal combustion engine without first having to disassemble the valve lifter assembly.

As the result of the heat generated in the engine block as well as the sliding action of those metal-to-metal parts, it has been found that the hydraulic valve lifters used in internal combustion engines usually suffer from the formation of gums and varnishes during normal service of the engine. The gums and varnishes that are formed usually manifest themselves between the two sliding surfaces, namely: the outer diameter of the sliding valve plunger and the inner diameter of the valve body. Since it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that the presence of excessive amounts of gums and varnishes is undesirable and serves to lower the efiiciency of the engine, no further exegesis is necessary, however, the formation of gums and varnishes on the moving surfaces of the valve tappets makes their removal from the 1 engine block extremely difiicult. When it has been determined, as evidenced by noisy" tappets, that the tappets must be removed and replaced, it has been found to be an extremely expensive job principally because of the difficulty and time involved in removing the tappets. The industry has found that the removal of the entire hydraulic valve lifter assembly, in one operation, including the main body portion, the plunger, the compression spring and the valve ball, would greatly simplify and expedite the overall removal job. Instead, it has been the practice to first remove the retainer ring with the plunger in the main body portion and thereafter remove the plunger by breaking the vacuum created by the ball valve. This is time consuming and often an exasperatingly difiicult process. It is one which tends to increase the cost of the job because of the time required. Instead, if the valve body could be removed, in its entirely, from the motor block without having to resort to the expedient of first removing the retainer ring and plunger, the replacement process Would be greatly simplified resulting in an appreciable saving of time and attendant charges.

The prior art is replete with devices for the removal of the main body portion after the plunger has been removed. Once the plunger is removed there is ample room to insert a tube into the depths of the body to facilitate the removal thereof.

Summary of the invention In my device, an essentially circular holding means is provided which, when inserted into that exposed portion of the hydraulic valve lifter assembly extending above the retainer ring and plunger members, is made to firmly grip the entire surface, thereof to facilitate the removal of the entire hydraulic lifter assembly from the motor block.

It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide a novel valve lifter puller.

Another principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel valve lifter puller capable of removing valve lifter assemblies in a shorter time than heretofore possible.

Still another principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel valve lifter puller capable of the removal of the valve lifter assembly in a single operation.

A further principal object of the present invention is to provide a novel valve lifter puller that is capable of removing the main valve body portion without having to resort to the prior removal of the plunger and retainer ring.

The features of my invention which I believe to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. My invention itself, however, both as to its organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the following drawings.

Brief description of the drawings assembly;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of my novel hydraulic valve lifter puller;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 33 of FIGv 2; and

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of another embodiment of my invention wherein a plurality of hydraulic lifter puller is provided for different model engines on a single handle.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 for a detailed description of one embodiment of my invention, there is shown a tool 10 comprised of a body portion 12 made of resilient, ferrous material and may be a bar of steel, approximately 4 inches long with rounded edges for ease of handling. It should be obvious to those skilled in the arts that this dimension of 4 inches is utilized merely as a matter of convenience in handling so that the bar may be manipulated without interfering with any of the other parts that may remain on the motor block while the valve lifter assembly 28.0 is being removed.

One end of tool 10 is provided with a slot 18 extending completely through the bar from upper surface 14 to lower surface 16, to form legs 12a and 1211. In addition, threaded aperture 20 is provided, which is tapered so that the diameter of aperture 20 is slightly larger at surface 14 than at surface 16. Spreader plug 22, having the same thread as the thread in aperture 20, forms part of my device and has about the same diameter as that portion of aperture 20 lying near surface 14. Lower surface 16 is further provided with a circular lip portion 24 which is about 0.00l0.00075 inch smaller than the inside diameter 28.4 of valve lifter assembly 28.0, the assembly to be extracted.

As is well known in the arts, lifter 28.0 has a main body portion 28.1 and a plunger portion 28.2 whose upward motion is limited by retainer spring 28.3. Plunger 28.2 rides up and down along the wall or inside diameter 28.4. As previously stated, the prior art extractors, require that retainer spring 28.3 be removed to facilitate the removal of plunger 28.2. It should be noted that the greatest proportion of gums and varnishes that are formed, are formed at the very end of the travel (in either direction) of plunger 28.2 and, the removal of plunger 28.2 is hampered by the formation of appreciable amounts of gums and varnishes in the exposed or remaining area,

generally indicated as 28.3. However, with my device, it is no longer necessary to disassemble the assembly to remove lifter assembly 28.0.

To operate my tool It), in a situation where lifter assembly 28.0 is located in an engine block (not shown), one merely has to insert lip portion 24 into the exposed portion 28.4 of valve lifter assembly 28.0 to form a mating union therewith. Thereafter, spreader plug 22 is threaded into aperture 20 until it binds and cannot be further threaded without stripping the threads therefrom. Since the side walls of aperture 20 are tapered, the legs 12a and 12b will be forced outwardly as plug 22 is threaded deeper into aperture 20. Thus, when lip portion 24 is first mated with exposed portion 28.3 of litter 28 and spreader plug 22 is threaded in the aperture 20 a point will be soon reached where legs 12a and 1212 will be forced further and further apart until lip portion 24 will be in firm, i111- movable contact with surface 28.3. Thereafter, the operator may grasp body portion 12 and with a slight, combined rotary and lifting motion, valve assembly 28.0 in its entirety, may be easily removed from the engine block.

Referring now to FIG. 4 there is shown a device which, for convenience, may be very practical for the garage mechanic who will use my device. In this embodiment a separate assembly having a slightly ditferent diameter of lip portion 24 is included at the other end of body 12 to accommodate a valve lifter assembly of a different model internal combustion engine wherein different dimensions of valve lifter assemblies are required.

It should be noted that this embodiment, when compared to the previous embodiment, has similarly numbered parts which correspond in all respects to like elements of the prior embodiment.

While I have described What is presently considered the preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the arts, that various other changes and modifications may be made thereon without departing from the inventive concept contained therein and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. A puller tool for removing assembled automotive hydraulic valve lifters from an engine block, comprising:

a solid, rectangularly shaped bar of resilient material having a longitudinal axis, top and bottom sides, and first and second ends;

a slotted portion at the first end of the bar, located on a substantial portion of the longitudinal axis thereof and extending from the top side to the bottom side of the bar;

a pair of leg portions, formed by the longitudinal slot in the bar;

gripping means located solely in and undercut from the bottom side of the bar and perpendicular to the leg portions to form an integral part thereof; and

spreader means for urging the leg portions apart and into a firm, mating relationship solely with the exposed portion of the assembled hydraulic valve lifter to be removed.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the gripping means comprises:

a substantially circular portion located centrally on the slotted portion and having a diameter smaller than the length of the slotted portion; and

the circular portion diameter being about 0.00075 inch to about 0.0010 inch smaller than the inside diameter of the exposed portion of the assembled valve lifler to be removed.

3. The device of claim 2 wherein the spreader means comprises:

a first tapered, threaded aperture located on the longitudinal axis between the legs of the first leg portions; and

first threaded plug means having the same thread thereon as the thread in the first tapered aperture to spread the first leg portions apart and thereby force the first gripping means against the exposed portion of the assembled hydraulic valve lifter to be removed.

4. The device of claim 3, further including:

a substantially similar slotted portion, pair of leg portions, circular gripping means and spreader means all located at the second end of the bar on the longitudinal axis thereof;

said last-mentioned portions and means being identical with similar portions and means located on the first end of the bar, except that the diameter of the lastmentioned circular gripping means is larger than the diameter of the first-mentioned circular gripping means on the first end of the bar.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,577,968 12/1951 Jentsch 29-253 2,826,808 3/1958 Pritchard et al. 292l3 X 3,071,849 1/1963 Krohm 29-270 3,252,210 5/1966 BoWden 29280 X ROBERT C. RIORDON, Primary Examiner.

J. C. PETERS, Assistant Examiner. 

